Can't Crush This Resilient Heart
by South.for.Winter
Summary: Fulfilling a prompt: Robin tells Marian he's leaving her for Regina. Marian loses her mind and manages to find the curse of the empty-hearted. In order to enact it, she'll need Regina's heart.


**Written to fulfill a tumblr prompt. This one is written in a completely different style than my other fics, is much darker, and is 100% a labor of love. In no way do I expect this of Marian, it was done simply for the prompt. This has been a different experience for me to write, and anyone who can take the time to review, I'd love some feedback!**

Can't Crush This Resilient Heart

It's the middle of the day and Regina isn't expecting company. When the doorbell rings, she sets the glass of wine she's been nursing down on the counter and sighs deeply. She was never a day time drinker, but since the return of Marian, she's found it doesn't really matter what time of day it is. She's not really sure if it's because the alcohol is warm when it slides down her throat and dulls the sharp pain she feels, even if only slightly, or if it's because she's stopped keeping track of what time of day it is.

No one comes by anymore unless it's to ask her how she's feeling. Maybe they mean well, but every time someone asks her if she's okay or how she's doing, she feels the pain increase. Really they can't be blamed, because pretending everything's normal hurts just as badly. Is it too much to ask just to be left alone?

And now it's early afternoon and someone's come to remind her of what she's lost – not that she really needs help with remembering.

She doesn't check to see who it is, because what does it matter? It's probably Snow again, pleading her daughter's case for the one hundred and eightieth time in two weeks. It's definitely not Henry because it's the middle of the school day and he wouldn't have bothered with the doorbell. He's the only person Regina doesn't mind seeing because he doesn't treat her like a bomb that's about to go off, and because he's her son and she loves him more than anything else in the world. He's the only person she loves more than…no. She doesn't ever think further than that because it already hurts enough, and if she admits the truth to herself, admits just what exactly it is she's lost, the pain would be too much, even for her. It isn't Henry at the door and so it doesn't matter who it is.

When she pulls it open to see Marian standing there with Roland, she takes a full step back in surprise. Of all the people she'd been expecting to see, Marian was not among them. Before she can even begin to wonder why Marian would show up on her doorstep in the middle of the day, she realizes that something is very wrong. Marian has made no attempt in hiding her hatred for Regina up to this point, but the look in her eyes now is different. There is a darkness, an all-consuming madness swirling in her eyes which Regina has only ever seen before in three people; her mother, her mentor and herself. It was looking into the mirror as the Evil Queen – it was beyond sympathy, empathy, logic and reason. And now it's in Marian.

Regina leans back on her heels, eyes widening dramatically as she takes in the expression the woman wears. And then her eyes slide to Roland, the sweet, innocent, happy, dimply-smiled baby boy standing next to that vortex of unfiltered hatred, and Regina's maternal instincts kick in full-force. He's holding his mother's hand, but he's not really holding it. It's being gripped in a vice-hold as if he's been pulled along behind Marian like a rag doll. He's hanging off her almost limply and the expression he's wearing is far from the one of joy Regina's used to seeing on his face. His dark eyes are wide with terror and he's looking at her and his eyes keep sliding out of focus like he's trying his best to be anywhere but here.

"Marian," she says quietly, steadily, because maybe she can talk that darkness out of Marian's eyes, but Marian has no interest in being calmed.

"He chose you," the woman says venomously and Roland startles at the harsh tone, eyes losing focus again.

Regina wants to pull the boy away from her, to hide him behind her, to protect him, and her arm lifts partially in response to these feelings, but Marian takes a step forward, pulling Roland along with her, and it has Regina stepping back to keep the space between them, her hand landing instead on her stomach as she begins to feel threatened herself. She shakes her head almost imperceptibly, eyebrows drawn together in confusion, not understanding the statement.

"Robin," Marian hisses, and she's moving forward again, several steps inside, Roland tripping over his feet at the force of her tugging at his hand. "He's leaving me…for you."

Regina shakes her head, because the words make no sense. Robin couldn't choose her. It had been obvious that night in the diner that with Marian back, Regina was forgotten. Robin hadn't come to her, hadn't called, and that horrible night, he hadn't even looked at her. He'd drowned in the sight of Marian and as she slipped out the door, his eyes hadn't left his wife for even a second.

He said he'd walk through hell to get Marian back but she was returned to him without him needing to. He had his beloved wife back, the mother of his son, and why would he ever choose her over that?

"He told me he still loves me," Marian says, voice twisting into an ugly mocking tone, pitch rising as she slips deeper into the madness. "But he's not _in_ love with me."

Something catches the light, a sudden bright flash for a fraction of a second and it's enough. Regina's eyes go straight to the knife in Marian's hand. The hand that's not crushing Roland's. It was hidden in the folds of her skirt and Regina hadn't seen it, but now she can't stop looking at it. Marian had walked through town holding a knife and surely someone must have seen, but if they had, Marian would not be here, would not be holding it. Unless everyone _had_ noticed. _She has a knife, but she's headed for the Evil Queen's house so we'll let it be_.

But Roland. Frightened, terrified, innocent Roland, and he's been pulled here forcefully. Surely someone will have noticed something was wrong.

"_I love another_ he said" Her words are bitter. "_I'm so sorry_. The Evil Queen, the murderer, the monster. He's in love with you." Marian's voice rises to a yell and the front door is open. Maybe someone will hear. But it's the middle of the day and everyone's at work. The house is large, the hedges around it for privacy will block out some of the sound, and even if someone hears it, who will come?

The knife is still hanging by Marian's side and Regina's fingers twitch, willing the magic inside her to eliminate the threat. Regina frowns when nothing happens and seeing that Marian has noticed the movement, she doesn't bother hiding a larger gesture as she attempts for the second time to disappear the weapon. This time the movement is more desperate and Regina feels panic settling in as Marian smirks awfully at her.

"Magic won't work this time, your Majesty," she says cruelly, and a sharp bark of laughter escapes. She brings the hand with the knife up to stroke at her necklace, the blade held casually as she circles the pendant lovingly in her hand. She holds the pendant with more care and love than she holds the hand of her own son and Regina wonders at the madness that has consumed her so fully that she would forget the love of her child. Regina's father had not been enough to bring her away from the edge or to stop her from falling into it, but her son...he had.

"A gift," Marian says happily. "It was given to me by a man who understands my pain."

It must be the necklace she speaks of because her hand still has not left it, and Regina's eyes move back and forth between the necklace and the knife.

"Poor little maid Marian," Marian whines. "Captured and locked up by the Evil Queen, then brought to this world only to be tortured in different, crueler ways. But I'm stronger than people give me credit for," she spits, and Regina thinks it's not true at all. Marian has obviously lost her mind - driven to insanity by grief. "And intelligent!" she yells, as if Regina has said something to the contrary, though she's been silent this entire time.

"The merry men all loved me, but they underestimated me. They thought me delicate; fragile. The adorable maiden, meant for royal life but rescued out of the clutches of an evil man whom I was meant to wed. I may not have been born for a life in the wild, but I learned. I adapted. Just as I will do now."

Her fingers still stroke the pendant, apparently an item designed to block magic and Regina feels helpless. But she cannot allow herself to think that way. Roland still stands in front of her and she must find a way through this situation for him. She looks back to Marian and the woman is watching her. Waiting, Regina realizes. Waiting for her to ask how Marian has decided to adapt.

Regina swallows and clears her throat, works to keep her voice steady. "What will you do?"

"I've acquired a spell. One which shall right all the wrongs. It will make Robin love me as he is supposed to."

But no. That can't be right. Love spells are dark – darker than most magic. They're rare and extremely hard to come by. She'd had her mother's but now it's gone, burned in an effort to show Henry she could change.

"Who gave it to you?" There are few people from their world who held such a spell. It was one which required only ingredients to cast. One need not be a caster to perform it. One ingredient, however, was the spell itself, and even rarer than spells were the people who had the power to write them.

"The same man who gave me this pendant, of course," Marian says, her head falling back with laughter. "And now I have everything I need, save the last ingredient." The laughter stops and when she lowers her head again to watch Regina, there is an eerie lack of emotion.

"My heart," Regina whispers, because she knows the ingredients of this particular spell, had nearly enacted it herself only the year before, and if Marian has everything else, it can be all that is left.

"The heart of the person I hate above all others," Marian says dreamily. "Not something I had to ponder."

Regina feels confidence grow in her at the revelation. You need magic to remove someone's heart, and magic is something Marian doesn't have. She has the knife, but Regina doesn't care. She can feel the fear beginning to fade away at the realization.

"And you expected...what?" she asks. "For me to just hand my heart over?" Feeling the confidence filling her up, she even lets out a small laugh.

Marian laughs in return and the sound is much less pleasant. It's sharp and grating; hysterical. It betrays the madness she's currently suffering and Regina feels some of the new-found confidence slither away, replaced by a shiver which runs down her spine. People who find amusement in what has been said usually have a reason. It means they know something the other person does not – Regina knows this from experience, and so she knows Marian has already thought of this, already has a plan, and _that_...well that is unsettling.

"I didn't think you'd give your heart so willingly to anyone who is not my husband," Marian says, and it bites because it is so obvious to everyone that Regina had given her heart to Robin. Not her literal heart, though she'd given him that as well, but in the figurative sense, they all knew she belonged to him and appearing so vulnerable terrifies her. That Robin is not hers any longer makes the statement a knife that twists in her gut. Marian does not need the one she holds in her hand because as much as Marian seems convinced Robin has made his decision, as mad as Marian has gone, Regina still cannot bring herself to believe it. "You're the Evil Queen, of course you do not scare easily, so how was poor little Marian supposed to convince the monster to hand over her heart? I had to improvise. You have weaknesses…obvious weaknesses; your love. I thought of your son Henry, that preteen little boy who's always at the diner."

Regina tenses at this. "What have you done to Henry?" she asks sharply, but Marian's face twists in irritation and she shakes her head.

"Nothing. The brat is always surrounded by his family, there was never a moment I could get him alone. But he is not the only child you love."

The blood turns into ice water in Regina's veins as her eyes go to Roland. Marian could not possibly mean what she thinks, but a split second later, Roland has been yanked viciously in front of Marian, one of her arms across his body holding him tightly to her while the other holds the knife to his neck.

Roland cries out, as does Regina, and she takes a step forward, freezing immediately when Marian shakes her head once more and presses the knife more firmly to the boy's neck.

"But he's your son," Regina argues, unable to comprehend what has just happened.

"A son who takes after his father." Marian's bitterness is heard plainly in her voice as she rants. "What good is a son who has no memory of his mother? It makes no difference to him that I am back. It's not me he asks for every night when it is time for sleep, and when I read him stories, they are always compared to yours, and mine do not measure up. If he's woken by a nightmare, he cries out for Robin half the time and you the other half, but never me. It's never his mother that he wants. Both my son and my husband love another woman."

Regina wants to say something, but can only stutter and it doesn't matter because a moment later, Marian is talking again anyway. "I decided it was time for a change. I control my fate. I can make Robin love me again."

Looking at Roland, Regina feels tears building up, tears from panic, desperation and rage. That Marian can be doing this to her own child...

And Roland is looking _at_ her now instead of _through_ her. There is pure terror and when his body jerks with a violent sob, a short, thin sliver of red appears where the knife cuts him.

"Stop!" Regina screams. "You're hurting him!"

"I don't have to be," Marian says pointedly, and Regina can see in her eyes that Marian is not upset about using her son this way. If anything, she seems inconvenienced, but that won't be enough to keep her from truly harming Roland, and Regina knows what she has to do. She reaches into her chest with one hand, holding the other out to Marian, pleading with her not to continue hurting Roland. She cries out again, hunching over at the pain of pulling the organ from her chest.

It's out now, and she thrusts it toward Marian. "Here, take it! Take it! Let him go!"

The knife falls from Roland's neck, but Regina doesn't take a breath until the arm restraining him is removed and reaching out to take the heart from Regina. Marian snatches the heart up and Regina gasps at the renewed pain.

"Gina!" Roland yells. He is still standing close to his mother, frozen in his spot by fear and the sight of Regina in pain.

"Run!" she screams. Roland safe is all that matters and though Marian has what she wants, Regina will not feel better until he is far from this place, far from _her_. This innocent child has already been through enough today, he doesn't need to see what Regina knows is coming next.

He jumps at the sound of her voice but he listens, and a second later he has run out the door. She hopes he doesn't stop until he is safe. Until he is with Robin or John or any of the merry men, even the Charmings, she doesn't care as long as he's okay.

"You may gain the love of Robin," Regina says darkly, "It won't be real, but you will have it. But what of Roland? How can you ever expect Roland to forgive you for what you've done to him?"

"Roland is young," Marian says, shrugging – she is actually shrugging and Regina can't believe how callous she has become. "He will forget what has occurred here today."

"He may be young, but having his mother hold a knife to his throat will not be an easy thing to forget."

"Either way, I will have Robin and you will be gone. The rest is of no concern to me. Everything will be right again once you are dead."

She doesn't hesitate a moment longer before she is squeezing Regina's heart and all Regina can feel is agony. It's not gradual like it had been when Rumplestiltskin had shown her how to crush a heart. It is all at once and it is awful. She falls to her knees and a violent scream rips its way from her throat. The world is immeasurable pain, dizziness, spotted vision, but she is still in it and after what feels like minutes but is probably mere seconds, Regina looks up to see why Marian has not ended it. Perhaps this is another way to make Regina suffer before she uses her heart for the love spell? It's certainly an effective one. But looking up at Marian from her position on the floor, Regina can tell that this was not Marian's intention.

The woman has the knife still in one hand and Regina's heart in the other, frowning down at it as she continues to squeeze. Her frown deepens and she drops the knife, wrapping a second hand around the heart for more leverage. She pauses a second and then grips as hard as she can with both hands.

Regina hadn't thought it possible, but the pain quadruples and she screams again, sobbing her breaths, tears streaming down her cheeks, and she can't look at Marian anymore because her eyes are squeezed shut and she is curled on the floor, writhing in agony. Never before had she known this much excruciating pain and she wonders why? Why doesn't it end? Why can't she simply die?

Marian bends at the waist, bringing the heart against her body as she tries to gain a better position to crush the heart, and when she finds it, Regina lets out one more agonizing scream and falls silent, the pain finally too much, and she's lost consciousness.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

Marian was taking Roland for a walk, that's all it was supposed to have been, but it hadn't felt right. It hadn't felt right because he'd told Marian the truth, he'd told her about Regina, and he'd told her about how he couldn't keep pretending and she'd seemed calm about it. Days had gone by and she hadn't mentioned it again, but she hadn't seemed herself either. She'd asked to take Roland for a walk and while Robin had felt a twinge of something he couldn't quite identify, he felt he was being selfish keeping Roland to himself, especially after everything he'd done to Marian. So he'd let her go and Roland with her.

But it had been too long and the feeling that Robin had when she'd walked out the door with Roland had grown stronger. Darker and more pronounced. Fear had worked its way into his system and after more waiting, Robin can't sit still any longer. He's out in the streets now, trying to find where they've gone. It's the park he checks first because Roland has formed an obsession with the swings – Regina had introduced him to the playground of this world and they'd spent hours on the swings alone. It was something Marian had done with him as well after she'd first returned, trying to rebuild the relationship with her son. After he finds the park empty and quiet – school is in session after all – he walks past Granny's, peeking through the windows wondering if they might have stopped for an afternoon snack. Ruby appears with a full trash bag, on her way to the alley, and she asks him if there's something she can help him with because he looks lost. He asks if she's seen Marian or Roland, but she shakes her head, frowning at the way he asks the question and wonders if there's something wrong. He shakes his head a bit as he walks away saying he's not really sure.

The streets are empty this time of day, making it easier for Robin to search, but it's also unsettling because in this peace, there should be more of a sign of where they've gone. But there's nothing. It's as he heads toward the houses of Storybrooke that he sees another person. They come out of their house timidly as he passes as if they're not sure yet that they want to. It's a man he recognizes from the search parties they'd formed back when people had been going missing. He'd been there again at the celebration for baby Neal and he'd introduced himself to Marian another time during breakfast at the diner.

He's seen Marian, he says before Robin can even ask, and is anything wrong? She'd seemed upset, Roland crying as he'd been mostly dragged behind her. It has Robin tensing. Roland is a happy child. He doesn't upset easily. And why would Marian have any reason to come this way? He asks what direction they'd been walking in and a feeling of dread fills Robin as the man points. The only thing he knows in that direction, the only place he can think that Marian has gone to is Regina's house, and that can mean nothing good.

Robin is running now, not sure why, but he feels he needs to. He doesn't know what's wrong, but something bad is happening, he can feel it now. He pushes himself to go faster and after he takes another corner, Roland is running toward him, crying. Robin drops to his knees as he reaches his son, holding his arms.

"What is it, Roland? Where's your mother? What's happened?"

It's as the boy struggles to find breath that Robin notices the thin line of blood on Roland's neck and Robin's stomach twists with anger and fear.

"Who did this to you?" Robin asks. "What's happened?" He's trying not to scare Roland further, but his boy is bleeding, his wife is missing, gone to Regina's, and she'd looked upset. And Robin had felt something was wrong, a million times more now, but he'd felt it before they'd gone and now he's cursing himself that he hadn't paid more attention.

Roland's face is covered in snot and tears and his breathing is harsh and ragged, but he finally manages to choke out the words. "You have to save Gina, papa!"

A siren sounds in the distance, growing closer quickly, and Robin's heart pounds painfully in his chest as he stands up, lifting Roland into his arms as he sees Emma's cruiser round the corner and slam to a stop when she spots him.

"Regina…" he says, and she's nodding.

"Get in."

So he does, grateful as they take off again, moving faster toward Regina than he could ever have gone on foot. It takes less than a minute, but it still feels too long as Emma tells him she'd gotten calls. Screaming, she says. Coming from the queen's house.

They finally arrive and Robin is telling Roland to stay in the car, begging him to stay in the car, and Roland nods his head, too frightened or traumatized to argue.

The front door is open and there is no sound, and that scares Robin more than the screaming because screaming meant someone was still alive. He can't think of anything but Regina as he runs inside and his heart stops when he sees her lying on the floor, unmoving. He's at her side a moment later, pulling her into his arms and checking for breath, for a pulse, anything to tell him she's still alive and she is, it's faint, but she is.

The sound of a gun being cocked breaks the silence, and Emma's voice filters through Robin's craze, and she sounds horrified. "Stop! Hand it over right now or I swear to god I will shoot you."

Robin looks up and he hadn't even noticed Marian before, but he sees her now and she's crouched on the floor, pushing what he recognizes as Regina's heart into the hardwood with all her might. It should be dust, and why it isn't is a wonder to Robin, but is something he's so heartbreakingly grateful for. He clings tighter to Regina as Marian looks up from what she is doing, up to Emma, and Robin doesn't even recognize her through the fog of hatred that swirls around her. She stops her movements but doesn't lift the heart from the floor. She only glares at Emma. "It won't be crushed," she says accusingly, as if it's Emma's fault she's been unable to kill Regina.

Emma moves forward slowly, her gun still aimed at Marian, and Marian watches her but doesn't move. Finally, Emma is bending down, reaching for the abandoned heart as Marian glares.

"She won't die. Rumplestiltskin gave me the pendant," Marian rambles, "and her magic won't work, but I can't crush her heart. How can I finish the spell if I can't crush her heart?"

Emma stands again, backing toward Robin and Regina, the heart held carefully in one hand. When she reaches them, she holds it out at her side for Robin without taking her eyes from the mad woman sitting across the entryway.

He takes it gingerly, looks at it sadly. It has resisted destruction, but it struggles to beat and with no specific rhythm. He strokes it gently with his thumb and is surprised when it glows a little brighter with the motion, so he does it again, holds it against his own chest because he can't live without this woman. It's still weak, but a rhythm appears, irregular, but better than the erratic beating he thinks, and he thanks the gods, the universe, any higher power that she is still fighting.

Emma has cuffed Marian and is ushering her out the front door, but Robin barely notices. He takes Regina's heart and rests it lightly against her chest, lining it up, remembering what Regina had taught him before about putting a heart back. She'd guided his hands last time and he'd been afraid, but she'd told him she trusted him, and she wanted him to be the one to put it back because he had saved it in more than one way. It belonged to him as well as her now, and how true that is, because his heart belongs to her, too, and he thinks he'll die if she doesn't pull through this.

But she will, he tells himself. She will because her heart couldn't be crushed, because it is still beating and because she is Regina and she's the strongest woman he knows. As gently as he can, he pushes her heart into her chest, waiting for a reaction, and while she doesn't wake up, it doesn't appear that anything more is wrong. He can feel her heart beating under his hand now, so he must have done it correctly. He moves so that one arm is around her back and the other under her knees as he holds her to his chest and struggles to stand. She is light, but his legs are numb. He finally manages and turns toward the door only to see Roland racing in.

"Gina!" he yells, and he runs right up to Robin, taking the hand that has fallen limply, her arm hanging down after Robin's lifted her. "Is she okay, papa?" he asks, his bottom lip quivering and his eyes wide and bright with fresh tears as he looks at Regina.

"She will be, my boy," he tells him, because it has to be true. "But we must get her to a doctor."

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

The drive to the hospital is awful. It's in David's truck, Emma having called him from Regina's. She'd known having Robin and Roland in the car with a deliriously upset Marian was a bad idea, especially with Regina in the condition she was in.

David keeps glancing over at her during the drive and Robin can see the man is worried for her. Her skin is pale and her breathing labored, though Robin notes it is somewhat improved from what it had been.

He is forced from the hospital room, arguing and fighting to be with her while they examine her, but David reminds him his son needs him as well, and he finds himself in an examination room with Roland as they clean the wound on his neck. It is free from infection they tell him, shallow, won't even scar, and Robin cries when he pulls Roland into his arms. It could have been so much worse but his son is safe and now he needs Regina to be safe, too.

They find their way back to where Regina had been wheeled. It has been nearly an hour and Robin sets Roland down when Dr. Whale comes out of the doors and sees him.

Her heart is beating normally again, they'd shocked it into the proper rhythm, but the organ is still weak and she's still unconscious. It could be minutes before she wakes, but it could also be days. She's clearly been through a lot and even if she's awake soon, they want to continue to monitoring her, so she's here for a good stay.

Robin can only nod, his voice gone. He's grateful when instead of keeping him from the room, he's ushered inside. Some of her coloring has returned, he notes hopefully. The sight of the machines and the noises coming from them make him nervous, but Whale explains what they're for, that the beeping is Regina's heartbeat as it's monitored for safety. Her chest is rising and falling regularly now as well, though maybe a bit shallower than usual. He takes the chair next to the bed, Roland climbing into his lap as they settle in to wait for the woman who is their world to wake up.

Emma comes and goes, and because Roland has fallen asleep, tells Robin Marian has been locked up, is getting the kind of help she needs, whatever that means. He has a hard time processing what she's saying.

David comes back, Snow with him, asking how she is, if there's anything they can do, but Robin just shakes his head. The only thing in the world that matters now is Regina waking up, and she has to do that on her own.

It's two hours later that she blinks her eyes open slowly. Finally, Robin thinks, because it has felt like an eternity. But she's strong and she's awake sooner rather than later. It hadn't been days and Robin doesn't know what he'd do if it had taken that long. He shifts, lifting Roland out of his lap and placing him back in the chair as he stands, makes his way to her side. She looks over at him, her eyes finally focusing, and she winces when she tries to sit up. He shakes his head and lays a gentle hand on her shoulder, smiling because she's awake.

She keeps focused on him, using the eye contact to ground her as Whale comes in, alerted to the fact that she's awake. He listens to her heart again, checks her vitals, asks her a few questions which are answered with only nods and shakes of her head, but her eyes don't leave Robin's and when the doctor is finally gone, he sits on the edge of the bed and she speaks her first words since waking.

"I was supposed to die."

They're said with confusion and she looks truly curious, but Robin can't answer because he doesn't know how she didn't and he's crying again at the thought of it.

Regina frowns. She hadn't meant to upset him, only wonders what had happened, and it hurts when she pulls him down to her but she does because he needs it, and maybe she needs it, too.

He turns, pulling his feet onto the bed and wraps an arm around her waist. He's ginger, not wanting to hurt her. Carefully, without putting much weight on her, he leans his head over so that his ear rests over her heart and he can hear it without the beeping of the machine. The steady beating is the most comforting sound he's ever heard, he thinks, and he asks, "Am I hurting you?" because the last thing he wants is to be causing her more pain, but he'd needed to hear it for himself.

She puts a hand on his head, holding it to her chest and shakes her head. "No," she says, realizing he can't see it, and he sighs as her voice vibrates under his ear. It doesn't take long for them both to fall asleep.

When they wake up, Roland has settled himself on Regina's other side and is watching her through bright eyes. He smiles when she lifts a hand to run her fingers through his hair.

Emma comes by again to tell them what she's found out. It's true Gold had given Marian the pendant, the spell, too. He'd known it wouldn't work – her resilient heart, he'd said, known from the moment he'd held it in his own hand all those years ago that it couldn't be crushed. He hadn't expected the extent of Marian's madness, that she'd use her own son to get what she wanted and for that, he is sorry, but he'd known without the spell, Marian was more likely to try killing Regina the old-fashioned way, and either she'd have succeeded or died trying. How could Robin have lived with that?

And it's true that Robin feels sick at what has happened, but they are both alive, no one has died. Gold has given them a gift, sick and twisted as it is, and the pair stay silent, neither wanting to acknowledge the truth of it, especially in the wake of the horrific events.

When she's gone, Henry enters. He'd wanted to come sooner, but Emma had told him to let them rest. He stays all night, talking and playing games with them while she's awake and waiting quietly and patiently while she naps occasionally. The visiting hours rule has been ignored – much to the dislike of Whale and his staff – but even in her weakened state, Regina's glare hasn't lost its effect, and she's not having it.

She never sleeps long because of discomfort or nightmares, but Robin and Roland and Henry are always there when she opens her eyes, and the pain and fear fade to the background.

This time when she wakes up, it's early morning. There is a warm, golden light filtering through the blinds on the window and she finds she and Robin are the only ones awake.

"I chose you," he whispers when she turns so they share a pillow facing each other. "She did this because of me." His eyes well up, but she reaches between them and rests a hand on his cheek, stroking gently with her thumb.

"It isn't your fault." Her brow furrows and she looks troubled when she says, "I'm sorry for what's happened."

Confusion stretches across his features as he watches her. "What could you possibly have to be sorry about?"

"She's your wife," Regina tells him sincerely. "Maybe if I'd handled things differently—"

"Stop," Robin says, his hand moving to cover hers. He knows where she's going with this. "I chose you. I would have chosen you no matter what. If I could go back, I'd stop her from hurting you, but I'd never change choosing you." He feels a lump in his throat, needs to lighten the atmosphere because the pain is suffocating. "Thank the gods you're too damned stubborn to die." He can't even smile but she does.

"A year fighting with me in the Enchanted Forest and you still haven't learned that I always get my way?" she asks, quirking an eyebrow. "Why am I not surprised, thief?" She rolls her eyes then, a smile playing at her lips, and before she can even finish, his mouth is on hers.

It's an urgent kiss, but he slows it right down, remembering to keep it gentle while she's still recovering. She sighs happily into his mouth and when he pulls back, he leans his forehead against hers. "I should warn you, I can be equally stubborn," he breathes. "And I'm never letting anything come between us again."

She looks into his eyes, and for the first time, she truly believes that he's chosen her, allows herself to feel how deeply he loves her, and she knows it's going to be okay. Better than okay. It's going to be wonderful.


End file.
